Sportsmanship Prevails at Vietnam Tourney

Singapore fielded two teams – one each for kyorugi and poomsae – for the 18^th Vietnam International Taekwondo Tournament.  The competition was held from 21 to 23 July 2010 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The kyorugi team comprising 11 players returned with 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.

The poomsae team, in their first international outing, with 8 players collected 2 silver and 9 bronze medals.  They had better chance of netting more medals because they were allowed to participate in more than one category.

The event attracted 10 countries including the traditionally taekwondo powerhouses – Korea, France and Thailand.

Singapore kyorugi players showed outstanding sportsmanship by accepting the decisions, which many officials, coaches and players believed were poor judgments, of the refereeing officials on three occasions.

A case in point involved Keith Ong, one of Singapore outstanding junior players.  He became the first victim of refereeing errors in the competition. 

Keith led 5-1 after delivering a spectacular reverse kick which connected squarely on his Korean opponent’s head.  A few seconds lapsed.  The Korean attempted a high turning kick, which clearly missed.  The Korean coach protested to the referee as no point was registered. 

The referee called a conference.  He later deducted 3 points from Keith and gave his opponent 3 points.  At that point, the score stood at 2-4 with a few seconds left for the end of the match.  It was unbelievable!

Prof Lee Kyu Seok, the Senior Vice-President of Asian Taekwondo Union, was shown the recording later.  He wanted to make it an issue but was prevented by Mr Milan Kwee, STF President as it was the culture of Singapore officials and players to accept whatever decisions, rightly or wrongly, of refereeing officials.  After all, it was just a game. 

What’s more, Singapore players became stronger by the adverse experiences.

Singapore Flagbearers

Team Manager – RA Jeyaraman

Kyorugi Team – Wong Liang Ming (Coach)

                                            Jason Tan Junwei

                                            Jordan Tay Jun Jie

                                            Keith Ong Jin Cong

                                            Daryl Tan Jia Jun

                                            Christopher Lee Jia Zhe

                                            Tio Jia Xin

                                            Nur Zakirah Bte Zakaria

                                            Nurul Shafinas Bte Abdul Rahman

                                            Charlotte Tang Xue Ting

                                            Tessa Tang Xue Yi

Poomsae Team – Tan Cheng Hui (Coach)

                                            Kang Rui Jie

                                            Samuel Lee Wei Liang

                                            Lai Han Seng

                                            Leon Koh Wee Kiat

                                            Chelsea Sim Shu Zhen

                                            Chiew Wenqi

                                            Ananurmelati Binti Abdul Rahman

                                            Joyce Lim Soon Yi